Thursday, January 24, 2008

Edward Hoch

Edward Hoch has died, of a heart attack, in his home in Rochester, New York. He was one of the great masters of the short story, and one of its most productive practitioners: he wrote over 900 stories and had one in every issue of Ellery Queen, from 1973 onward. Ed was one of the kindest, most gracious and gentlemanly of all crime writers. His was the first face and hand to welcome any newcomer to MWA, and almost all of us active writers can cite any number of generous acts, from seeing that our own work got published, to his support of Sisters in Crime when we were first starting out. His memory will live long, but we will miss him sorely.